How to Detect Accessibility Service Abuse in Android Apps

Last updated August 13, 2024 by Appdome

This Knowledge Base article describes how to use Appdome’s AI/ML in your CI/CD pipeline to continuously deliver plugins that Detect AccessibilityService abuse in Android apps.

What is Android Accessibility Service Abuse?

Accessibility Services are OS settings/features in Android designed to assist users with disabilities (for example, screen readers, speech-to-text, and touch events). These features run in the background and receive callbacks from the system when accessibility events are fired, allowing them to react to UI state transitions (for example, the focus has changed, the button was clicked, or content in the active window was queried).
When an app’s Accessibility Services features are enabled it often grants the app permissions that can be abused, especially if the app is a clone, trojan, or malware app. Such malicious apps often request elevated permissions or trick users into enabling AccessibilityServices, which the app will then abuse (at the user’s or your app’s expense). The potential malicious uses of AccessibilityServices services include performing click actions (for example, committing click fraud, inputting data into forms fraudulently, impersonating the real mobile user, or cheating in mobile games). Other potential abusive actions are reading and writing SMS messages and emails, intercepting and reading 2FA codes, stealing cryptocurrency keys, and remotely controlling mobile devices or apps.
For these reasons, it is advisable to be aware when Accessibility Services are enabled for a malicious app and to protect the target application (your app) from being abused or compromised.

How does Appdome Protect Against Accessibility Service Abuse?

When Accessibility Service Abuse is detected, Appdome ensures that the app closes and the user receives a notification informing them about the detection and suggesting the option to turn off their Accessibility Services via the settings.

Note: You can either leave the default app compromise notification as is or edit it. In addition, you can create a localized compromise notification message by uploading a CSV or JSON file. Ensure that in this file, you specify the locale (e.g., en_US) on the left column and the localized message on the right column.

Note: The toggle Accessibility Service Abuse is only displayed when enabling the feature Prevent Accessibility Service Malware.

Prerequisites for Using Appdome's Accessibility Service Abuse Plugins:

To use Appdome’s mobile app security build system to Detect AccessibilityService abuse , you’ll need:

How to Implement Detect AccessibilityService abuse in Android Apps Using Appdome

On Appdome, follow these 3 simple steps to create self-defending Android Apps that Detect AccessibilityService abuse without an SDK or gateway:

  1. Designate the Mobile App to be protected.

    1. Upload an app via the Appdome Mobile Defense platform GUI or via Appdome’s DEV-API or CI/CD Plugins.

    2. Android Formats: .apk or .aab
    3. Accessibility Service Abuse is compatible with: Java, JS, C++, C#, Kotlin, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Xamarin, Cordova and other Android apps.
  2. Select the defense: Accessibility Service Abuse.

      1. Create and name the Fusion Set (security template) that will contain the Accessibility Service Abuse feature as shown below:
        fusion set that contains Accessibility Service Abuse

        Figure 1: Fusion Set that will contain the Accessibility Service Abuse feature

      2. Follow the steps in Sections 2.2-2.2.2 of this article to add the Accessibility Service Abuse feature to your Fusion Set via the Appdome Console.

      3. When you select the Accessibility Service Abuse you'll notice that the Fusion Set you created in step 2.1 now bears the icon of the protection category that contains Accessibility Service Abuse.

        Fusion Set applied Accessibility Service Abuse

        Figure 2: Fusion Set that displays the newly added Accessibility Service Abuse protection
        Note: Annotating the Fusion Set to identify the protection(s) selected is optional only (not mandatory).

      4. Open the Fusion Set Detail Summary by clicking the “...” symbol on the far-right corner of the Fusion Set. Copy the Fusion Set ID from the Fusion Set Detail Summary (as shown below): fusion Set Detail Summary image

        Figure 3: Fusion Set Detail Summary

      5. Follow the instructions below to use the Fusion Set ID inside any standard mobile DevOps or CI/CD toolkit like Bitrise, Jenkins, Travis, Team City, Circle CI or other system:
        1. Refer to the Appdome API Reference Guide for API building instructions.
        2. Look for sample APIs in Appdome’s GitHub Repository.
    1. Add the Accessibility Service Abuse feature to your security template.

      1. Navigate to Build > Anti Fraud tab > Mobile Malware Prevention section in the Appdome Console.
      2. Toggle On > Accessibility Service Abuse.

        (a) Choose to monitor this attack vector by checking the Threat Events checkbox associated with Accessibility Service Abuse as shown below.

        (b) To receive mobile Threat Monitoring, check the ThreatScope™ box as shown below. For more details, see our knowledge base article on ThreatScope™ Mobile XDR.
        Accessibility Service Abuse option

        Figure 4: Selecting Detect AccessibilityService abuse

        Note: The Appdome Platform displays the Mobile Operation Systems supported by each defense in real-time. For more details, see our OS Support Policy KB.

      3. Select the Threat-Event™ in-app mobile Threat Defense and Intelligence policy for Accessibility Service Abuse:
        1. Threat-Events™ OFF > In-App Defense

          If the Threat-Events™ setting is not selected. Appdome will detect and defend the user and app by enforcing AccessibilityService abuse.

        2. Threat-Events™ ON > In-App Detection

          When this setting is used, Appdome detects that the AccessibilityServices services are enabled and passes Appdome’s Threat-Event™ attack intelligence to the app’s business logic for processing, enforcement, and user notification. For more information on consuming and using Appdome Threat-Events™ in the app, see section Using Threat-Events™ to Accessibility Service AbuseDetect Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps.

        3. Threat-Events™ ON > In-App Defense

          When this setting is used, Appdome detects and defends against AccessibilityService abuse (same as Appdome Enforce) and passes Appdome’s Threat-Event™ attack intelligence to the app’s business logic for processing. For more information on consuming and using Appdome Threat-Events™ in the app, see section Using Threat-Events™ for Accessibility Service AbuseDetect Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps.

      4. Configure the User Experience Options for Accessibility Service Abuse:
        With Threat-Events™ OFF, Appdome provides several user experience options for mobile brands and developers.
        1. App Compromise Notification: Customize the pop-up or toast Appdome uses to notify the user when a threat is present while using the protected mobile app.
        2. Short message Option. This is available for mobile devices that allow a banner notification for security events.
        3. Localized Message Option. Allows Appdome users to support global languages in security notifications.

          Localized Message

          Figure 5: Default User Experience Options for Appdome’s AccessibilityService abuse

        4. Accessibility Service Abuse Threat Code™. Appdome uses AI/ML to generate a unique code each time Accessibility Service Abuse is triggered by an active threat on the mobile device. Use the code in Appdome Threat Resolution Center™ to help end users identify, find and resolve active threats on the personal mobile devices.
    2. Initiate the build command either by clicking Build My App at the bottom of the Build Workflow (shown in Figure 4) or via your CI/CD as described in Section 2.1.4.
    Congratulations!  The Accessibility Service Abuse protection is now added to the mobile app
  3. Certify the Accessibility Service Abuse feature in Android Apps

    After building Accessibility Service Abuse, Appdome generates a Certified Secure™ certificate to guarantee that the Accessibility Service Abuse protection has been added and is protecting the app. To verify that the Accessibility Service Abuse protection has been added to the mobile app, locate the protection in the Certified Secure™ certificate as shown below: Accessibility Service Abuse shown in Certificate secure

    Figure 6: Certified Secure™ certificate

    Each Certified Secure™ certificate provides DevOps and DevSecOps organizations the entire workflow summary, audit trail of each build, and proof of protection that Accessibility Service Abuse has been added to each Android app. Certified Secure provides instant and in-line DevSecOps compliance certification that Accessibility Service Abuse and other mobile app security features are in each build of the mobile app.

Using Threat-Events™ for AccessibilityService abuse Intelligence and Control in Android Apps

Appdome Threat-Events™ provides consumable in-app mobile app attack intelligence and defense control when AccessibilityService abuse is detected. To consume and use Threat-Events™ for AccessibilityService abuse in Android Apps, use registerReceiver in the Application OnCreate, and the code samples for Threat-Events™ for AccessibilityService abuse shown below.

The specifications and options for Threat-Events™ for AccessibilityService abuse are:

Threat-Event™ Elements Detect AccessibilityService abuse Method Detail
Appdome Feature Name Accessibility Service Abuse
Threat-Event Mode
OFF, IN-APP DEFENSE Appdome detects, defends and notifies user (standard OS dialog) using customizable messaging.
ON, IN-APP DETECTION Appdome detects the attack or threat and passes the event in a standard format to the app for processing (app chooses how and when to enforce).
ON, IN-APP DEFENSE Uses Appdome Enforce mode for any attack or threat and passes the event in a standard format to the app for processing (gather intel on attacks and threats without losing any protection).
Certified Secure™ Threat Event Check
Visible in ThreatScope™
Developer Parameters for Detecting AccessibilityService abuse Threat-Event™
Threat-Event NAME AccessibilityServiceDetected
Threat-Event DATA reasonData
Threat-Event CODE reasonCode
Threat-Event REF 6801
Threat-Event SCORE
currentThreatEventScore Current Threat-Event score
threatEventsScore Total Threat-events score
Threat-Event Context Keys
message Message displayed for the user on event
failSafeEnforce Timed enforcement against the identified threat
externalID The external ID of the event which can be listened via Threat Events
osVersion OS version of the current device
deviceModel Current device model
deviceManufacturer The manufacturer of the current device
fusedAppToken The task ID of the Appdome fusion of the currently running app
kernelInfo Info about the kernel: system name, node name, release, version and machine.
carrierPlmn PLMN of the device. Only available for Android devices.
deviceID Current device ID
reasonCode Reason code of the occurred event
buildDate Appdome fusion date of the current application
devicePlatform OS name of the current device
carrierName Carrier name of the current device. Only available for Android.
updatedOSVersion Is the OS version up to date
deviceBrand Brand of the device
deviceBoard Board of the device
buildUser Build user
buildHost Build host
sdkVersion Sdk version
timeZone Time zone
deviceFaceDown Is the device face down
locationLong Location longitude conditioned by location permission
locationLat Location latitude conditioned by location permission
locationState Location state conditioned by location permission
wifiSsid Wifi SSID
wifiSsidPermissionStatus Wifi SSID permission status
threatCode The last six characters of the threat code specify the OS, allowing the Threat Resolution Center to address the attack on the affected device.

With Threat-Events™ enabled (turned ON), Android developers can get detailed attack intelligence and granular defense control in Android applications and create amazing user experiences for all mobile end users when AccessibilityService abuse is detected.


The following is a code sample for native Android apps, which uses all values in the specification above for Accessibility Service Abuse:


Important! Replace all placeholder instances of <Context Key> with the specific name of your threat event context key across all language examples. This is crucial to ensure your code functions correctly with the intended event data. For example, The <Context Key> could be the message, externalID, OS Version, reason code, etc.



Using Appdome, there are no development or coding prerequisites to build secured Android Apps by using Accessibility Service Abuse. There is no SDK and no library to code or implement in the app and no gateway to deploy in your network. All protections are built into each app and the resulting app is self-defending and self-protecting.

Releasing and Publishing Mobile Apps with Accessibility Service Abuse

After successfully securing your app by using Appdome, there are several available options to complete your project, depending on your app lifecycle or workflow. These include:

Related Articles:

How Do I Learn More?

If you have any questions, please send them our way at support.appdome.com or via the chat window on the Appdome platform.

Thank you!

Thanks for visiting Appdome! Our mission is to secure every app on the planet by making mobile app security easy. We hope we’re living up to the mission with your project.

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